Queensland will close its borders to all areas in New South Wales and the ACT from 1.00am on Saturday August 8th.

QLD Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced her government’s decision to close the border from Saturday, in a news conference on Wednesday morning, noting that the COVID situation in both states was “concerning.”

Both NSW and the ACT are now considered to be coronavirus hotspots, following an updated declaration by Queensland’s Chief Health Officer, which will take effect at 1.00am on Saturday.

“This is the right thing to do,” said Ms Palaszczuk. “I know it’s going to be tough on Queenslanders, but your health comes first… We need to protect not only our health, we need to protect the families, we need to protect our economy.”

Queensland has reported one new COVID case in the past 24 hours, bringing the state’s current total to 11 active cases.

Today’s announcement of the Queensland border closures follows last week’s extension of border restrictions to 34 New South Wales suburbs including all of the Sydney Metropolitan area.

You can stay up-to-date on all the changing restrictions and border closures with this live map, which shows you where you can and can’t travel.